Hill becomes Wellsboro's all-time scoring leader
By: Ed Weaver | NTL Sports | September 14, 2016
Senior Josiah Hill became the Wellsboro Varsity Boys Soccer team's all-time leading scorer as the Hornets defeated Williamson 4-0 on Tuesday, September 13.
Hill, who was tied with Darby Alafoginis with 56 career goals coming into the game, scored the game's first goal, and the new school record with 29 minutes left in the first half from an assist by junior Gabe Leach.
"I'm proud of the accomplishment and it's quite an honor to say I'm the boys all-time goal leader," Hill said.
Coming into the game, Hill said he felt the pressure to break the record.
"I felt a little pressure, I mean I thought about it most of the day just trying to get the goal to get the record, but if I didn't get it today there was another chance I would have got it, but I'm grateful I got it today."
Wellsboro head coach John Shaffer, who coached Alafoginis for two years, is proud to have coached Wellsboro's top two all-time leading scorers.
"I've been lucky to have two boys that have been able to break the 50 goal mark and score a lot of goals. It's a credit to Josiah's hard work and determination and I'm just really proud of him."
Hill added his second goal with 22:52 left in the opening half as senior Jacob Singer provided the assist to make it 2-0. Hill then completed the hat trick with 26 minutes left in the second half off an assist from sophomore Holden Kennedy to make it 3-0.
The Hornets got their final goal of the night from sophomore Brett Rudy, with an assist from Kennedy, with just over a minute remaining to make it 4-0, giving the Hornets their second consecutive win.
Williamson managed to out-shoot Wellsboro 10-9 on the afternoon, but senior Casey Hoover made 6 saves in goal for his first shutout of the season and the 11th of his career.
After droping three games to start the season, the Hornets have now won their last two, outscoring their opponents 6-1. Coach Shaffer hopes the two wins gets the rights the ship going forward.
"I think the start of the year was a combination of a few things. We put Josiah in a different position to try and get him the most touches possible, not because of the record, but because of him being so dangerous and I think the team forced it and maybe Josiah forced it a little bit. We went back to how we played last year and let the game come to us holistically and it's payed off. We're starting to pass the ball a little bit more and hopefully we score more goals because of that."
In the JV game, Wellsboro won 5-1 to improve to 4-1 on the year. Kennedy, sophomore Adam Cornell, and freshman Conrad Becker each scored a goal while freshman Robert Tardieu scored twice.
The win improves the Hornets' record to 2-3 (1-2 NTL). Next up for the Hornets is a road contest with Troy on Thursday, September 13.
WellsboroSoccer.com would like to congratulate Josiah on becoming the new all-time goal leader in Wellsboro history.
Ed Weaver is the owner of Circle W Sports in Wellsboro, PA, is the Sports Director for The Home Page Network and the creator of WellsboroAthletics.com and WellsboroFootball.com. You can follow him on Twitter or friend him on Facebook.
